It is not set in stone that the Arsenal captain has to be one of the players who is likely to be one of the regular first team starters. Our last two club captains, Mikel Arteta and Thomas Vermaelen, spent large parts of their periods of captaincy either on the bench or in the treatment room. You would think that it was preferable to have that leader actually on the pitch though, and I am sure that Arsene Wenger expected that from Arteta and Vermaelen were given the armband but circumstances then worked against both of them.
This time the manager is already aware that the player who was thought to be about to get the job, Per Mertesacker, is going to miss at least the first few months of the new season and knowing the way our players’ problems often seem to take a lot longer than first expected to fix, it could be more.
Even when the German defender is match fit again there is no guarantee that he will get his starting place back, with new signing Rob Holding set to compete with Gabriel and Calum Chambers and Arsenal transfer rumours suggesting that the boss might get another centre back in before the transfer window closes.
With all this in mind, would it really be right to make Mertesacker the captain? Surely it would be better to give to a proven winner like Petr Cech or a role model that could inspire his team mates such as Alexis Sanchez. What do you think Gooners?
Bob.